The Martin Beradt Collection centers on letters and manuscripts from, about and to Martin Beradt and his wife Charlotte Beradt, née Aron. The first series consists of personal documents, which include the documents of US-citizenship of Martin Beradt, his school certificates and pictures of his parents as well as his autograph collection. The second series centers on the correspondence of Martin and Charlotte Beradt with publishers in Germany and later in the United States. Beradt tried to republish his work after the Nazis burnt his books in 1933. The third series holds manuscripts written by Martin Beradt himself. There are the early newspaper articles, which are focused on themes like youth and justice as well as short stories, which were influenced by his experiences during the First World War and his emigration in 1939. A lot of these essays refer to Jewish life in Berlin during the 1920s. The last series of this collection includes reports and reviews about Martin Beradt and his work. It collects clippings from important contemporary German newspapers and broadcast reports from the Westdeutscher Rundfunk/ WDR (West-German radio station)

The author and lawyer Martin Beradt was born in Magdeburg on August, 26th 1881. In 1892 his family moved to Berlin. Beradt studied law in Berlin, Munich and Heidelberg. He received a doctorate from the university of Freiburg (Breisgau) in 1906. His first book "Go" was published three years later. Since 1911 Beradt worked as a lawyer in Berlin. He was a co-founder and syndic of the "Schutzverband deutscher Schriftsteller" (association for the protection of German writers). In 1933 Beradt was expelled from the bar association because he was Jewish. The Nazis burned his books and banned them. In 1938 Beradt married Charlotte Aron (1907 1986). One year later the couple immigrated to New York via London. In New York Beradt's wife earned a living as a hairdresser. Martin Beradt tried to find a new publisher, but he was not successful. He died in New York, on November 26th, 1949. After his death Charlotte Beradt found some publishers who reissued the work of her husband

6-page inventory

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Several of Martin Beradts published books are held in the LBI Library

Photograph removed to Photograph Collection

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